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by Early_Halligan



Category: Hat Man (Julie and the Phantoms) - Fandom
Genre: Apparently all the fanfics i write are for incredibly niche audiences, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27680834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Early_Halligan/pseuds/Early_Halligan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





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_30 years_.

It had been 30 years to the day since Caleb had last seen him. Aleksei. It would’ve been their anniversary today. They would have been planning a spectacle for the club, their biggest yet.

Caleb sighed and walked onto the stage to look out at the rows of tables. They were all empty, the tablecloths missing, the lights off, and the chairs stacked neatly along one wall. He had closed the club for the night for the first time since Aleksei had crossed over, not sure he would be able to bear the memories, but now that he saw it, as dull and lifeless as it was, he didn’t think he’d made the right decision. He needed the light, the joy and laughter and showmanship of the club to remind him. “Why did it have to happen at all?” he asked the room.

He turned to look at the wall with the club’s logo on it. Aleksei, for all his dramatic behavior, had insisted on a simple name for it. No matter how much Caleb protested, it had always been the same idea. _The Hollywood Ghost Club,_ Aleksei had told him. _Simple enough to remember, but elegant enough to show the spirit_. And eventually, Caleb had agreed. Over time, the name had grown on him, and after he’d lost Aleksei, it had been something he clung to. Several of his patrons had suggested he change it to something more flashy, more reminiscent of the modern day, but he’d vehemently refused any suggestions.

Caleb suddenly found himself at the piano. How had he gotten there? He couldn’t be sure. But his vision was beginning to grow blurry with tears, and his fingers were forming the familiar chords to a song he’d played many times before. He’d written it when he found out Aleksei was gone, throwing himself into the music for days, almost weeks, before he tucked it away in his memory. The notes began to rise, and before he knew it he was singing.

“You made an offer that I couldn’t refuse,  
gave me something I couldn’t bear to lose,  
You offered love in silken cloth and lit up the world with a song”

The tears in Caleb’s eyes finally began to fall onto the keys of the piano, and his voice gave out for just a moment. When he began to sing again, his voice was softer, almost silent, and anguished.

“But now the flames have burnt out  
and the world is black and white without you, my dear  
so here I am with a song and a plea:  
I still need you.  
Come back to me.”

The last note was barely audible, but he felt it echo around the walls of the space as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calm himself. It didn’t work. In fact, it only made him hurt more. The wind cried just as he did, a melancholy song of loss and remembrance.

“Why did you have to leave me?”


End file.
